September 12, 2024 • 32 mins
#063 Ready to break free from traditional rehab methods and create a practice that truly resonates with your passions? Gina Taylor is an occupational therapist who has successfully built her private practice by integrating hippotherapy and aquatic therapy.
In this episode you will learn about her career transition, balancing motherhood, implementing innovative therapy strategies, and the importance of partnerships that prioritize community service over financial gain. She explains how she diversified her practice to include aquatic and nature-based therapies, overcoming initial challenges such as integrating hippotherapy and gradually building a consistent client base.
Gina provides invaluable advice for rehab professionals contemplating their own private practice, highlighting the importance of hands-on experience in their chosen niche before committing fully, and meticulous financial tracking. Gina's story is a testament to the possibility of building a unique path in the rehab field while balancing a fulfilling personal life. Join us for an episode full of practical insights and encouragement to take those first steps toward your dream practice.
For links and show notes, head to: https://rehabrebels.org/063
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Intro (00:01):
Welcome to the Rehab Rebels podcast.
Are you a rehab professionalready to transition to an
alternative career?
Hear inspiring stories fromothers just like you and learn
the best ways to bridge yourcareer gap.
This podcast has you covered.
Now here's your host, doctor ofphysical therapy and podcaster,
Tanner Welsh.
Tanner Welsch (00:21):
Welcome back to another Rehab Rebels episode.
This episode is for rehabprofessionals interested in
hearing an OT's journey tocreating her own rehab private
practice.
Our guest today is Gina Taylor.
She has a Master's of Science,inct instructor at Raritan
(00:44):
Valley Community College and isa coordinating faculty for the
American HippotherapyAssociation.
She has clinical expertise inpediatric and psychosocial
interventions and holdscertifications in sensory
integration, dir, slash, floortime intervention and is a
hippotherapy clinical specialist.
(01:05):
Welcome to the show, gina.
Gina Taylor (01:07):
Thanks, thanks for having me on.
Tanner Welsch (01:09):
Yeah, I'm excited to have you come on.
Let's dive in here and getstarted.
I know you're doing a lot ofthings and just to give
listeners a little bit of abackground, you are an OT.
You run your own privatepractice and specialize in
hippotherapy and aquatic therapy.
Gina Taylor (01:28):
Yeah, we feel like we're doing a little bit of all
the things, but we're doing it.
Tanner Welsch (01:31):
For sure, for sure.
Let's talk a little bit aboutthe traditional experience as an
OT that you had, and probablystarting recently out of when
you graduated from OT school,and then we'll talk a little bit
about maybe the first sense ofawareness that this traditional
rehab model really isn't for meor doesn't fit me.
(01:52):
So can you lead us up to reallythat point that you just had a
sense that this traditional OTmodel wasn't for you?
Gina Taylor (01:58):
I think there's been a big part of my story
that's been non-traditional fromthe beginning, and going into
grad school knowing that Iwanted to incorporate horses
into my future OT profession waspart of the plan.
But then as you go throughschool, there isn't a lot of
(02:18):
support for that, there isn't alot of faculty who have an idea
where to direct you.
And as you go through yourclinical experiences you have
that opportunity to see what thetraditional rehab model was.
And it was really important forme to have a field work
placement at a traditional rehaboutpatient clinic and I had a
really good placement.
(02:39):
But I also got to see exactlywhat it entailed and I was.
Patients are really interesting,caseload was really interesting
, turnover not so much,productivity demands not so much
, and that definitely confirmedthat I wasn't that sort of
therapist.
I wasn't going to be that sortof therapist.
I loved my mental healthplacement.
(03:00):
That was number two on my listof potential career options
would be to work in mentalhealth, in the inpatient
psychiatric unit.
But really, looking at whatthere was out there and what
options were, was that beginningof?
I don't want to be in a school,I don't want to be in a
hospital, I don't want to be ina rehab clinic.
(03:20):
Want to be in a rehab clinic,then it is well, what can you
make?
Where can you find a place?
Because when you're working ina specialty area, there aren't
too many facilities that arelooking to hire a full-time
therapist.
Often it's one or two nights aweek, and so that creates a
dilemma of well, how do I makethis work?
How do I work as a therapist?
I went through all the troubleto go through and pass my boards
(03:43):
, and, and now what do I do?
Tanner Welsch (03:45):
For sure, yeah, was there a specific moment that
you had that?
From that moment you were likeyeah, okay, I'm going to create
my own OT you know privatepractice and build it out.
Gina Taylor (03:56):
That specific moment was the moment after
having my first child when Iasked for some flexibility from
my job at the time and that wasnot an option.
I had to stick with theschedule that I had been doing
and we were just finding itwasn't working very well for our
family.
That was really the moment ofokay.
I don't know exactly how I'mgoing to make this happen, but
(04:18):
it's going to happen.
Right from that moment thewheels basically started turning
of okay, now I have to find apractice location.
I need to get the flow for aclient in place.
I had already had the LLCformed because I had seen a
couple of clients here and thereover the years, but this was a
(04:39):
big change from that employee toowner mindset.
Tanner Welsch (04:45):
Let's talk a little bit more about that
timeframe.
You're a new mom.
You're wanting to go full-timewith the OT business.
You've had some clients in thepast.
What were some next steps foryou for really putting on the
business owner hat and doingthis full-time?
How did you get those clientsand how did you find a facility
and start implementing thisstuff?
Gina Taylor (05:05):
Yeah, I think that's the big thing.
For a lot of therapists who areinterested in working with
animals or aquatics, it's like,well, I don't own a farm or I
don't own a pool, what am Igoing to do?
I would love to do this, but Idon't have the facilities.
And so it was a lot of emails,phone calls and visits and I
went to a lot of different farms.
We talked about what my needswere, what they could offer,
(05:31):
what their schedule was, what myschedule would likely be based
on the types of clients that Iserve, then eventually finding
someone who it was more aboutserving the community for them
than another business venture,right?
So some facilities that I wastalking to, about partnering for
them, it was really a financialinvestment to bring me on, and
so they were looking at it froma financial perspective and
finding a facility that waslooking at it from a service
(05:53):
perspective really worked wellbecause they were much more
flexible about what they couldoffer.
It was more of a kindness thanjust what are you going to pay
me per hour.
And that was really thebeginning.
And same with the pool iscalling around networking with
some other schools swim schoolsand finding out facilities that
they were using or had used inthe past and getting the inside
(06:16):
scoop of who you might want towork with, who you might not
want to work with, findingsomebody and finding a facility
that was willing and welcomingreally to take us on.
As far as finding clients, it'sreally interesting because I
guess the traditional model isreferrals, right, referrals from
doctors, pediatricians, andthat has just never worked for
(06:38):
us.
I got my first call with aneurodevelopmental pediatrician
and that doctor is the doctor inour area and I was so excited
and nothing.
Nothing came of it.
Really, our best pipeline isFacebook, both being in Facebook
communities and just being apart of the special needs
community, and when somethingcomes up that I think is
appropriate, or if we're doinglike a free event, we post that
(07:00):
and doing Facebook ads.
We've actually had a prettygood client conversion rate off
of ads.
So I know that doesn't work foreverybody, but it has worked
really well for us.
Tanner Welsch (07:09):
Congratulations.
That's awesome.
Yeah, Looking for a communityangle for how to serve the
community with the services thatyou can bring to the table.
What sort of groups or placesdid you go to to find the best
matches for this relationshipversus those that were just
really looking at the bottomline and wanting to see how much
they can make from having youcome and rent out their space or
(07:31):
whatever?
Gina Taylor (07:32):
Yeah, it was a really, really interesting
experience meeting withdifferent facilities.
Again, we have the barn farmside of things.
We also looked at a couple ofproperties we wanted to set up a
nature-based camp where wecould operate out of, and so we
met with a couple of propertyowners, did property tours and
(07:53):
looking at what's the lay of theland, what opportunities are
present in this land.
Is there water?
Is there dense trees?
Is there open fields?
Are there danger areas Like apond?
For us was something that wedidn't want to have to worry
about, but a stream is a benefit.
So the traditional expectation,especially when we're
incorporating horses, would beto go to an adaptive or
(08:14):
therapeutic riding center andpartnering with them would seem
to make sense very much.
But in some cases some of theowners felt there was almost too
much overlap and so explainingthe difference of what I did as
a therapist to what they did asa riding instructor they didn't
feel would be a particularlygood fit.
Some other riding stables again, they were teaching most of
(08:36):
their riding lessons at the sametime that I would be providing
therapy, and so that afterschool hour, when you're working
with kids, that's your maintime of day.
So I think that's one of thechallenges is finding those
places that are not alreadyfully booked for that 3 to 7 PM
after school shift.
Mark.
Tanner Welsch (08:55):
MIRCHANDANI MD Makes sense.
Yeah, I wasn't sure.
If there was non-for-profits orany community or state-based
establishments, that would be apossibility to create
relationships with what you'rewanting for the aquatics and or
the equine.
Gina Taylor (09:09):
Yeah, so one of our facilities is a nonprofit.
They're a 501c3.
One of the facilities we workwith is a for-profit business
model.
Another one is a publicinstitution like a college, and
I do know that there are othertherapists who are successfully
operating out of state-run parkfacility as well as other
nonprofits.
So partnering for us has beenthe best way to go.
(09:30):
Our dream is to have our ownfacility.
That way we can be a teachingfacility, a hosting facility.
But right now it's veryeconomical to lease out space
and so when we're there, we pay,when we're not there, we're not
paying.
And also it works really wellwhen you're in this phase of
parenthood, when you have youngkids, that when I leave, I leave
(09:52):
the horse maintenance behind,we leave the pool maintenance
behind If there's somethinggoing on.
That's not my responsibilityright now, and so there is a
huge psychological benefit tothat.
Tanner Welsch (10:05):
Yeah, relief, and some responsibilities that you
don't have to worry about.
Could you talk us just brieflyabout which service, I guess, do
you offer at each of thosedifferent establishments?
Gina Taylor (10:15):
My husband and I are both occupational therapy
providers, so we provideoccupational therapy in all of
our settings.
But it does look a little bitdifferent.
So at the farm facility it'sprimarily focused on using the
movement of the horse to achievethe client's goals.
But I do have some clients thatdon't want to interact with the
horse, and so we use the otherparts of the barn and the farm
(10:38):
and do some outdoor,nature-based stuff.
We're at a strictly nature-basedsite and so those are all
outdoor sessions, very muchintegrating things that we're
seeing in nature.
We have stream, we have hills,we have forest, so our OT
sessions there are generallyabout an hour long, because by
the time we get out and comeback and then at the pool, the
(10:59):
aquatic OT sessions are veryplay-based and are incorporating
the resistance of the water,the buoyancy of the water, and
having that client interact withthe water has been really
beneficial in meeting some goals, and sometimes it's goals that
we don't necessarily think about.
For both hippotherapy andaquatic therapy the physical
(11:21):
biomechanical model seems to bethe obvious one, but there's
such a sensory implication ofbeing in the water and so our
clients with sensory impairmentsreally often do very well in
the aquatic environment as well.
Tanner Welsch (11:33):
For sure.
That's some great insightsabout the other therapeutic
effects of using animals and orwater for your therapy.
So I really would love to getsome insight on before you went
full-time let's say six monthsbefore you went full-time with
this what was that like?
And then we can talk.
You know, maybe six months to ayear after you went full-time,
(11:54):
what was that like, and then wecan talk.
You know, maybe six months to ayear after you went full time,
what was that like?
Let's start with six monthsbefore.
What are you doing?
What are you going through yourmind?
What are you still working on?
What are your problems or painpoints, and can you share how
you overcame those with us?
Gina Taylor (12:04):
Yeah, sure.
So six months before was beforeI was a mom.
I knew that having a child wasgoing to change things.
I knew it was going to changemy work flow and work schedule.
Didn't know exactly what thatwould look like.
I knew I didn't want to go backfull time and it was the
question of how am I going tomake this work?
Is my employer going to beflexible enough to accommodate a
(12:27):
different schedule or not?
And if not, then what?
And so there's a lot ofuncertainty, I think, in that
period, and then add to it thefact that you're going through a
major life transition, thesetwo big things that are
happening at the same time andthey're wound so tightly
together, feeling veryunprepared for what was going to
(12:48):
come next whether it was workor having a kid and not knowing
what was going to be the best orpossible solution.
And as my child was born andthen, of course, I had some
maternity leave and thinkingabout all right now I know that
I'm going to need to changeplans and trying to make it as
(13:08):
smooth as possible, both for myprevious employer, but then also
, what's the low hanging fruitthat I can start with that's
going to start to build us upand I stuck with what I knew and
come to find out that wasn'tnecessarily the best, maybe,
solution.
I mean it worked in the end,but I think it maybe was a
(13:29):
little more challenging than itneeded to be.
Tanner Welsch (13:32):
So what is this that you're referring to?
That you knew that was a littlemore challenging than it needed
to be.
Gina Taylor (13:37):
So I stuck with the horses and I stuck with
incorporating hypotherapy as ourinitial offering through our
private practice and, unlikeother areas in the country,
there are actually quite a fewfacilities that have therapists
that are incorporatinghypotherapy into their practice.
So, whether that's OT, pt orspeech, there are a number of
established facilities that havetherapists that are
incorporating hypotherapy intotheir practice.
So, whether that's OT, pt orspeech, there are a number of
(13:57):
established facilities that havebeen doing it for 20, 30, 50
years.
And so coming in as anindividual person, private
practice owner, without afacility name behind you, when
there are other choices, I thinkmade it a little bit harder
than if we had started off onlike nature-based or aquatics,
(14:18):
both of which there was nothingat all in our area.
So, yeah, it was interesting.
Tanner Welsch (14:23):
Yeah, that's an interesting perspective and
pretty insightful.
And so after going through thatinitial experience in the early
phases, did you happen tochange your approach or
presentation to where really thehippotherapy was more of an
additional service or maybe aback-end service, and then you
went more with the aquatic OTsituation?
Gina Taylor (14:44):
Yeah.
So the really cool thing is nowwe find that the way we've
structured ourselves is that ourclients come to us for OT and
then we often see them inmultiple settings.
They're not necessarily justbeing seen at the barn or just
being seen in aquatics, and soif I'm having a particular
challenge in one area, then whenI see them in a different
(15:05):
context, either I don't see thatsame challenge here or I see it
present differently and I havedifferent tools to work on.
So I have a client right nowthat we're working on a lot of
motor coordination issues and soupper extremity extension and
lower extremity flexion, and shejust can't quite coordinate the
both.
When you see her in the pool,can you get her to do extension
(15:26):
with the barbell in the front ordo like crisscross applesauce
on the flow through mat.
It's worked really well in thatthey're much more flexible and
being able to see them indifferent settings gives us a
lot more insight into what'sgoing on than if we just saw
them with any one of our tools.
Tanner Welsch (15:43):
For sure, and some more opportunities for
intervention to try in thatsetting.
Yeah, I love that.
That's cool.
We talked a little bit aboutsix months before going full
time.
Let's fast forward there.
And how was that transition?
What was going through yourmind?
What were some of yourstruggles?
Gina Taylor (15:57):
It was hard.
It was harder than I expectedit to be.
I feel like when you're in theFacebook groups of private
practice entrepreneurship, somepeople are like I filled my
caseload in three months and nowI have a waiting list and we're
looking to hire.
And that was definitely not ourexperience.
Again, that initial offering ofsticking with hippotherapy
being the main area that we werespecializing in, it was much
(16:21):
harder to get going and therewere much more ups and downs.
You know, one client, threeclients, and then things would
change, that panicked feeling ofam I going to be able to fill
those spots again.
Then summer came and then weoffered the nature-based
interventions and we had somegroups run.
(16:42):
Within that timeframe we wereable to start to have a little
bit of diversity in what we wereoffering and we had that
opportunity to be like okay, wecan offer some nature-based
groups.
We had that opportunity to belike okay, we can offer some
nature-based groups.
And then some of those peoplesort of filtered either over to
the barn or into individualone-on-one sessions.
That allowed us to, or me inparticular, take a deep breath.
(17:06):
There's an up and a down and anup and a down, and you just
have to know which one you're onto look for the next and up and
a down and you just have toknow which one you're on to look
for.
Tanner Welsch (17:16):
the next and the services that you offer in this
timeline.
When did aquatics come in?
Because you talk aboutexperimenting a little bit with
a nature base, which workedgreat, and you already had the
aquine stuff.
So when did the aquatics filterinto all this and you guys see
that as like a legitimateadditional service that you can
offer.
Gina Taylor (17:30):
That was about two years in.
We had been looking for afacility for a couple of months
prior to that.
We knew we wanted to bring itin and just trying to find the
right facility that was going tobe the right fit with ours and
the environment itself.
Somebody was willing to workwith us on time and time a day
(17:52):
and then, about six weeks beforewe did, ran Facebook ads and we
filled that right from openingday.
It's changed from where itstarted, so we filled it with
one-on-one OT clients and nowwe're a mix of aquatic OT
sessions and adaptive swimlessons.
So some of our OT clients thatsee us in the other settings are
(18:13):
adding on adaptive swimminglessons as opposed to another OT
session a week.
In some cases paying for twotherapy sessions a week was
really hard for families, butgetting that adaptive swimming
lesson in was really helpful asan adjunct.
Tanner Welsch (18:31):
For sure.
Let's look at the year markafter you went full-time.
At this point it sounds likeyou've done the nature-based as
a service and you're still doingthe equine stuff.
Where are you guys at?
What are some of the painpoints you're having and how did
you overcome them a year afteryou went full-time?
Gina Taylor (18:48):
So the interesting thing about when you're in a
nature-based setting or you'reworking with animals is that
seasons matter, unlike a clinicwhere seasons don't matter.
Seasons really matter.
And so you need more than ayear to go through the cycle of
seasons so that way you canstart to plan when people are
available, how they're going toreact to the cold and make sure
(19:12):
that you have parent educationcoming on in August, because if
they're signing up, they'regoing to fall out by October oh,
it's getting really cold orparents start to have concerns
about it.
So as we got to that one yearmark okay, it's definitely
viable, it's good.
As far as scheduling, I canbook out most of my schedule now
(19:35):
.
Then it was just starting toback into what we had learned
through that first yearregarding seasonal changes,
because in some ways you thinkof aquatics as a summertime
thing, but it's actually.
Most people have their poolsopen.
In the summer they're much morelikely to use their own pool or
their friend's pool, whereas inthe dead of winter they're much
more likely to come to afacility, and so some things are
(19:56):
even counterintuitive as far aswhat that schedule would be.
And as we sort of came intothat second summer we realized
that families were booking theirtherapy intensives in November
of the previous year so wethought we were on it.
We're like we got our stuff outend of March, april and people
(20:17):
are like, no, we're all bookedup.
Probably one of our biggest painpoints of we knew what we could
offer, but now we were learningwhen did we need to offer it?
If you wanted your summerschedule out, you had to be
getting that out as early asNovember, but definitely by
January-ish, because people wereby April.
They had their summer planned.
I was like, wow, that's amazing.
Tanner Welsch (20:40):
So, since we're talking a little bit about the
seasonal stuff, what happened inthose winter months, you know,
november, december, january withthe equine therapy?
Is it temporarily just notavailable at that time, or how
did you adapt with the seasonchanges?
Gina Taylor (20:52):
So one facility has an indoor riding arena and so
then you have the cold but youdon't have the elements.
The other facility does not,and we just went with it.
If it is literally snowingheavily, we will cancel.
If it's not and the client cantolerate it, we won't.
Because I have some kids thatreally can tolerate it.
(21:13):
Right, they have more socialemotional issues, and so as long
as I gave really goodinstructions of what dress warm
meant, we were good.
And then I had some otherclients that they just couldn't
tolerate the cold, no matterwhat they were dressed in, and
so we learned a lot as far astelling families ski gear.
If you have ski gear like pants, thermals, snow pants, coats,
(21:35):
you had to spell everything out,because tights don't cut it.
And this year the facility thatdoesn't have an indoor I said,
from daylight savings time todaylight savings time, I'll just
be at the other facility.
So we just switched locations.
Tanner Welsch (21:50):
I love that flexibility and adaptability and
checking in with the clients.
That's great.
What is obvious to you now thatmaybe you struggled with in the
moment of you know, six monthsbefore going full-time with this
business, or you know aroundthe time that you were a new mom
and everything was up in theair and just felt ill-prepared
for everything, like youmentioned.
(22:11):
What is obvious to you now andthat hindsight and experience
perspective that you can sharewith us.
Gina Taylor (22:16):
Yeah, I am such a planner, I like to have things
planned, and there's only somuch planning you can do.
And I thought, once I get itset, I thought there was going
to be some magical done point.
And at this point I realizedthere is no magical done point
because it's just an iteration,a new iteration of what you had
done before.
So each time we change or addor grow, you have to go back and
(22:41):
redo everything.
You have to go back and do yourintake forms, you have to go
back and do your welcomesequences.
There is no done.
And so it's obvious now thatyou're going to ride those ups
and downs.
You're going to be startingover in some ways as you bring
new programs in, and I was soworried about having it done
that there was some sort of donepoint.
(23:01):
And it's obvious to me now thatthere is no done point.
There's just where you're atand where you're going For sure.
What do you love most aboutyour new reality?
It might fly, it might flop,but there's just something as a
(23:25):
professional that is so freeingabout that.
And I don't have to go througha board, I don't have to go
through paperwork process, Idon't have to go through six
months of paperwork and red tapeto just try something to find
out.
It might not work anyway.
Tanner Welsch (23:41):
Yeah, right, I mean there's different aspects
of the traditional model that wecan talk about this on.
One is specifically for thecompany that you work for and
their red tape and theirlimitations, and then also the
limitations on the insurance andreimbursement, what they're
willing to pay for and notwilling to pay for, and all that
stuff.
So, yeah, that is definitelyfrustrating and something that
(24:04):
is unfortunate.
That is in the traditionalmodel For rehab professionals
interested in starting to branchout, do a side hustle and start
their own private practice,bootstrap it and build it up.
What advice do you have forthem, or tips or what's
something that maybe you wouldhave liked to have heard back
(24:24):
then from somebody who's alreadybeen in your shoes, where
you're at now?
Gina Taylor (24:28):
I'm going to give two things here, because one is
on the niche side of things andthen the other is on just the
experience, overall side ofthings.
Make sure that you take thetime to go hang out with a
therapist who's doing it,volunteer, go and spend some
(24:53):
time in that niche that youthink you want to work in before
you get all the things, becauseit's often not what you think
it's going to be.
Being out with the horses andwalking around on a beautiful
spring day and the birds arechirping and the client's having
a great time and they're havingthis amazing break that that's
fabulous.
But on the day that it's 37 andraining and miserable and the
horses are all tense becauseit's a cold, windy day in the
(25:14):
spring and the client isfreaking out because they didn't
have a good day and they'retrying to bite you and they had
bite you with the helmet.
You want to see that before youjump in with both feet.
So that's what I would say Goout and put the time in to find
out what that experience is like, or start in a micro step of
going with a client and meetinga farm and going to pet a horse
(25:34):
or something, because, again,it's not often what you think
exactly it's going to be.
You're never going to wastetime by doing that first, and
you may save yourself a lot oftime and money.
And then, from the what I wishsomeone would have told me
before getting started, becausethe niche area was my strong
point and the business area wasmy weak point.
(25:57):
I wish someone had sat downwith me and looked at different
ways to structure things and hadhelped me set up the
bookkeeping and looking at whichnumbers I really wanted to
track earlier on.
I think that would have beenreally helpful of know your
numbers.
Get to know your numbers, starttracking things, categorizing
(26:17):
things.
That would have helped me a lotearly on.
Tanner Welsch (26:20):
Let's dive into that a little bit if you don't
mind.
So you're talking about settingup a business plan or different
streams of income or differentservices you're going to offer.
Can we talk a little bit moreabout that and what you mean?
Gina Taylor (26:33):
Yeah, because we don't own the barn or the pool.
We have facility fees, Then wehave our income that comes in
from the clients paying us fortheir therapy sessions, and then
we have your other businessexpenses, like email or your
website platform.
And just starting to track,what percentage of expenses do
(26:53):
we have?
What percentage do we need toset aside for taxes?
What percentage is profit thatwe can pay ourselves from and
still feel comfortable in makingthat payment?
Because in that early phase andeven sometimes now, it's okay.
How much should we payourselves this month?
We know what the average is now, but did it vary significantly?
(27:17):
Because most of our expensesare not exponential, so as we
get more clients we don'tnecessarily incur more expenses,
and so that means our profitmargin would get bigger.
Just knowing where that line isof expenses, taxes, profit pay
yourself would be great.
Tanner Welsch (27:35):
You know that would have been really helpful
advice early on breaking thatdown and then there obviously
becomes a limit on how manyactually you guys can patients
you can see before you'd have tohire somebody else, for example
if you're going to scale stuff.
So yeah, something we haven'tcovered yet.
The horses sounds likesomething that right away you're
(27:56):
interested in right in OTschool, maybe even before OT
school.
Can you give us a little bit ofbackground of what was the big
interest in doing that from thestart?
Gina Taylor (28:06):
Yeah, so I was a horse kid.
Pretty much as soon as I caughtwind of a horse, I was a horse
kid.
I participated in 4-H as amiddle school, high school kid,
and once a year the SpecialOlympics kids would come and we
would give them rides on our 4-Hponies.
And so I was like, oh, that'scool, and so my undergraduate
degree is in equine studies, myH ponies.
And so I was like, oh, that'scool, and so my undergraduate
(28:27):
degree is in equine studies.
My parents were very supportive.
They didn't say what A careerin horses?
Get a real job.
They were really supportive.
They're like I don't knowexactly what you're going to do
with it, but you'll figure itout.
So my initial side of cominginto all of this was from the
horse side of things and Istarted with teaching adaptive
horseback riding.
I was teaching riding because Iwas a rider to people with
special needs, but then I was Ireally don't have all the tools
in my toolbox that I would liketo have.
(28:49):
And then it was just a decisionof do I want to be OT, do I
want to be PT?
Do I want to be an SLP?
So when I sat down for mygraduate school interview and
they said your undergraduatedegree is in equine studies.
Why are you here?
And I was like I know exactlywhat I want to do.
Tanner Welsch (29:10):
And look at you now proving them all wrong.
A follow-up to that is theaquatic therapy.
When did that come into thepicture?
How and why did it come intothe picture as a service that
you offer?
Gina Taylor (29:20):
I had kept trying to convince my former boss to
put a pool in.
I was like it'd be great in thewinter, when it's too cold to
be outside, and when, in thesummer, when it's bloody hot,
we'll just have a pool.
And she's we're not getting apool.
Come on, we need a pool.
We're not getting a pool.
I really want a pool.
We're not getting a pool.
I lost that battle.
I never did get a pool, but itwas always something that really
made sense for me.
Again, there's a lot of overlapin the benefits from both.
(29:41):
And my husband he's a CODA, youknow, a retired Marine
lifeguard, so he had all thepieces there and I was.
So why aren't we doing it?
Well, we don't have a pool.
Okay, let's find a pool.
And that was really okay, let's, let's try it and see.
And I knew from being pregnantI wanted to take an aquatics
prenatal class.
There was nothing.
I drove an hour and 15 minutesto go to a prenatal aquatics
(30:03):
class.
I was.
This is amazing.
So I knew there was.
Just there was nothing in ourarea.
It made sense.
Tanner Welsch (30:09):
That's awesome.
I really love your life, yourcareer, your life.
You really have a what I wouldcall a more lifestyle of freedom
, like a customized life that'soutside of the traditional rehab
profession and career.
And I guess, closing here, I'mjust going to open up the mic to
you and just say is thereanything else that you'd like to
share with others that areinterested in either starting
(30:31):
their own private practice oreven just, you know, cultivating
a lifestyle that you and yourhusband and family have created?
Gina Taylor (30:39):
It's doable and it's easier than you think it is
to get started.
You don't have toovercomplicate it, you can just
get started and it will growfrom there.
You can grow it as big or assmall as you want.
We've grown to the point thatwe're comfortable growing right
now because we have three littlekids at home that we homeschool
and we don't want to work fivenights a week we could if we
(31:01):
wanted, but we don't and so it'spossible to start with just one
night a week and enjoy theexperience of doing something
different, and I think it bringsa lot of passion back to your
work, just to have a breath offresh air.
So if you're excited aboutanimals or aquatics or
hypotherapy, just gettingstarted can really refresh you
(31:24):
and then you can decide if youwant to go further with that.
A lot of the therapists that Italk with they just they really
overthink it and they get stuckin their head about making any
sort of move and it's really notthat hard to just take those
first steps.
So I think that's what I wouldsay to people you can just take
the first steps and see where itgoes.
If you're meant to do it, thepath will be there.
(31:45):
It's not for everybody.
I know some people.
They just can't handle beingeither in charge of it all or
the business side, or theunpredictability.
But if it's meant for you andyou take that first step, the
path will be there for you.
Tanner Welsch (31:58):
I love that.
Don't get stuck in the analysisparalysis.
Also, I think there's otheroptions.
Like you pointed out, you don'tnecessarily have to go full
time into your own privatepractice business.
It's something you can do onthe side it's like a
supplemental income or havebasically another avenue stream
and customize your schedule theway you want.
As you mentioned, you don'thave to work five days a week if
(32:21):
you don't want to.
So I really love thatflexibility and creativity with
the career and schedule andlifestyle.
Yeah, 100% Well, Gina, thankyou so much for coming on the
show and sharing your story.
I've loved it.
Gina Taylor (32:34):
Thanks for having me.
Tanner Welsch (32:35):
Of course, anytime.
Intro (32:37):
Thank you for listening to the Rehab Rebels podcast.
If this podcast was useful,make sure to hit that subscribe
button and leave a review.
For more information abouttransitioning to alternative
careers, head to rehabrebelsorgor follow us on Instagram at
Rehab Rebels podcast.
We'll see you next time.
Welcome to the Rehab Rebels podcast.
Are you a rehab professionalready to transition to an
alternative career?
Hear inspiring stories fromothers just like you and learn
the best ways to bridge yourcareer gap.
This podcast has you covered.
Now here's your host, doctor ofphysical therapy and podcaster,
Tanner Welsh.
Tanner Welsch (00:21):
Welcome back to another Rehab Rebels episode.
This episode is for rehabprofessionals interested in
hearing an OT's journey tocreating her own rehab private
practice.
Our guest today is Gina Taylor.
She has a Master's of Science,inct instructor at Raritan
(00:44):
Valley Community College and isa coordinating faculty for the
American HippotherapyAssociation.
She has clinical expertise inpediatric and psychosocial
interventions and holdscertifications in sensory
integration, dir, slash, floortime intervention and is a
hippotherapy clinical specialist.
(01:05):
Welcome to the show, gina.
Gina Taylor (01:07):
Thanks, thanks for having me on.
Tanner Welsch (01:09):
Yeah, I'm excited to have you come on.
Let's dive in here and getstarted.
I know you're doing a lot ofthings and just to give
listeners a little bit of abackground, you are an OT.
You run your own privatepractice and specialize in
hippotherapy and aquatic therapy.
Gina Taylor (01:28):
Yeah, we feel like we're doing a little bit of all
the things, but we're doing it.
Tanner Welsch (01:31):
For sure, for sure.
Let's talk a little bit aboutthe traditional experience as an
OT that you had, and probablystarting recently out of when
you graduated from OT school,and then we'll talk a little bit
about maybe the first sense ofawareness that this traditional
rehab model really isn't for meor doesn't fit me.
(01:52):
So can you lead us up to reallythat point that you just had a
sense that this traditional OTmodel wasn't for you?
Gina Taylor (01:58):
I think there's been a big part of my story
that's been non-traditional fromthe beginning, and going into
grad school knowing that Iwanted to incorporate horses
into my future OT profession waspart of the plan.
But then as you go throughschool, there isn't a lot of
(02:18):
support for that, there isn't alot of faculty who have an idea
where to direct you.
And as you go through yourclinical experiences you have
that opportunity to see what thetraditional rehab model was.
And it was really important forme to have a field work
placement at a traditional rehaboutpatient clinic and I had a
really good placement.
(02:39):
But I also got to see exactlywhat it entailed and I was.
Patients are really interesting,caseload was really interesting
, turnover not so much,productivity demands not so much
, and that definitely confirmedthat I wasn't that sort of
therapist.
I wasn't going to be that sortof therapist.
I loved my mental healthplacement.
(03:00):
That was number two on my listof potential career options
would be to work in mentalhealth, in the inpatient
psychiatric unit.
But really, looking at whatthere was out there and what
options were, was that beginningof?
I don't want to be in a school,I don't want to be in a
hospital, I don't want to be ina rehab clinic.
(03:20):
Want to be in a rehab clinic,then it is well, what can you
make?
Where can you find a place?
Because when you're working ina specialty area, there aren't
too many facilities that arelooking to hire a full-time
therapist.
Often it's one or two nights aweek, and so that creates a
dilemma of well, how do I makethis work?
How do I work as a therapist?
I went through all the troubleto go through and pass my boards
(03:43):
, and, and now what do I do?
Tanner Welsch (03:45):
For sure, yeah, was there a specific moment that
you had that?
From that moment you were likeyeah, okay, I'm going to create
my own OT you know privatepractice and build it out.
Gina Taylor (03:56):
That specific moment was the moment after
having my first child when Iasked for some flexibility from
my job at the time and that wasnot an option.
I had to stick with theschedule that I had been doing
and we were just finding itwasn't working very well for our
family.
That was really the moment ofokay.
I don't know exactly how I'mgoing to make this happen, but
(04:18):
it's going to happen.
Right from that moment thewheels basically started turning
of okay, now I have to find apractice location.
I need to get the flow for aclient in place.
I had already had the LLCformed because I had seen a
couple of clients here and thereover the years, but this was a
(04:39):
big change from that employee toowner mindset.
Tanner Welsch (04:45):
Let's talk a little bit more about that
timeframe.
You're a new mom.
You're wanting to go full-timewith the OT business.
You've had some clients in thepast.
What were some next steps foryou for really putting on the
business owner hat and doingthis full-time?
How did you get those clientsand how did you find a facility
and start implementing thisstuff?
Gina Taylor (05:05):
Yeah, I think that's the big thing.
For a lot of therapists who areinterested in working with
animals or aquatics, it's like,well, I don't own a farm or I
don't own a pool, what am Igoing to do?
I would love to do this, but Idon't have the facilities.
And so it was a lot of emails,phone calls and visits and I
went to a lot of different farms.
We talked about what my needswere, what they could offer,
(05:31):
what their schedule was, what myschedule would likely be based
on the types of clients that Iserve, then eventually finding
someone who it was more aboutserving the community for them
than another business venture,right?
So some facilities that I wastalking to, about partnering for
them, it was really a financialinvestment to bring me on, and
so they were looking at it froma financial perspective and
finding a facility that waslooking at it from a service
(05:53):
perspective really worked wellbecause they were much more
flexible about what they couldoffer.
It was more of a kindness thanjust what are you going to pay
me per hour.
And that was really thebeginning.
And same with the pool iscalling around networking with
some other schools swim schoolsand finding out facilities that
they were using or had used inthe past and getting the inside
(06:16):
scoop of who you might want towork with, who you might not
want to work with, findingsomebody and finding a facility
that was willing and welcomingreally to take us on.
As far as finding clients, it'sreally interesting because I
guess the traditional model isreferrals, right, referrals from
doctors, pediatricians, andthat has just never worked for
(06:38):
us.
I got my first call with aneurodevelopmental pediatrician
and that doctor is the doctor inour area and I was so excited
and nothing.
Nothing came of it.
Really, our best pipeline isFacebook, both being in Facebook
communities and just being apart of the special needs
community, and when somethingcomes up that I think is
appropriate, or if we're doinglike a free event, we post that
(07:00):
and doing Facebook ads.
We've actually had a prettygood client conversion rate off
of ads.
So I know that doesn't work foreverybody, but it has worked
really well for us.
Tanner Welsch (07:09):
Congratulations.
That's awesome.
Yeah, Looking for a communityangle for how to serve the
community with the services thatyou can bring to the table.
What sort of groups or placesdid you go to to find the best
matches for this relationshipversus those that were just
really looking at the bottomline and wanting to see how much
they can make from having youcome and rent out their space or
(07:31):
whatever?
Gina Taylor (07:32):
Yeah, it was a really, really interesting
experience meeting withdifferent facilities.
Again, we have the barn farmside of things.
We also looked at a couple ofproperties we wanted to set up a
nature-based camp where wecould operate out of, and so we
met with a couple of propertyowners, did property tours and
(07:53):
looking at what's the lay of theland, what opportunities are
present in this land.
Is there water?
Is there dense trees?
Is there open fields?
Are there danger areas Like apond?
For us was something that wedidn't want to have to worry
about, but a stream is a benefit.
So the traditional expectation,especially when we're
incorporating horses, would beto go to an adaptive or
(08:14):
therapeutic riding center andpartnering with them would seem
to make sense very much.
But in some cases some of theowners felt there was almost too
much overlap and so explainingthe difference of what I did as
a therapist to what they did asa riding instructor they didn't
feel would be a particularlygood fit.
Some other riding stables again, they were teaching most of
(08:36):
their riding lessons at the sametime that I would be providing
therapy, and so that afterschool hour, when you're working
with kids, that's your maintime of day.
So I think that's one of thechallenges is finding those
places that are not alreadyfully booked for that 3 to 7 PM
after school shift.
Mark.
Tanner Welsch (08:55):
MIRCHANDANI MD Makes sense.
Yeah, I wasn't sure.
If there was non-for-profits orany community or state-based
establishments, that would be apossibility to create
relationships with what you'rewanting for the aquatics and or
the equine.
Gina Taylor (09:09):
Yeah, so one of our facilities is a nonprofit.
They're a 501c3.
One of the facilities we workwith is a for-profit business
model.
Another one is a publicinstitution like a college, and
I do know that there are othertherapists who are successfully
operating out of state-run parkfacility as well as other
nonprofits.
So partnering for us has beenthe best way to go.
(09:30):
Our dream is to have our ownfacility.
That way we can be a teachingfacility, a hosting facility.
But right now it's veryeconomical to lease out space
and so when we're there, we pay,when we're not there, we're not
paying.
And also it works really wellwhen you're in this phase of
parenthood, when you have youngkids, that when I leave, I leave
(09:52):
the horse maintenance behind,we leave the pool maintenance
behind If there's somethinggoing on.
That's not my responsibilityright now, and so there is a
huge psychological benefit tothat.
Tanner Welsch (10:05):
Yeah, relief, and some responsibilities that you
don't have to worry about.
Could you talk us just brieflyabout which service, I guess, do
you offer at each of thosedifferent establishments?
Gina Taylor (10:15):
My husband and I are both occupational therapy
providers, so we provideoccupational therapy in all of
our settings.
But it does look a little bitdifferent.
So at the farm facility it'sprimarily focused on using the
movement of the horse to achievethe client's goals.
But I do have some clients thatdon't want to interact with the
horse, and so we use the otherparts of the barn and the farm
(10:38):
and do some outdoor,nature-based stuff.
We're at a strictly nature-basedsite and so those are all
outdoor sessions, very muchintegrating things that we're
seeing in nature.
We have stream, we have hills,we have forest, so our OT
sessions there are generallyabout an hour long, because by
the time we get out and comeback and then at the pool, the
(10:59):
aquatic OT sessions are veryplay-based and are incorporating
the resistance of the water,the buoyancy of the water, and
having that client interact withthe water has been really
beneficial in meeting some goals, and sometimes it's goals that
we don't necessarily think about.
For both hippotherapy andaquatic therapy the physical
(11:21):
biomechanical model seems to bethe obvious one, but there's
such a sensory implication ofbeing in the water and so our
clients with sensory impairmentsreally often do very well in
the aquatic environment as well.
Tanner Welsch (11:33):
For sure.
That's some great insightsabout the other therapeutic
effects of using animals and orwater for your therapy.
So I really would love to getsome insight on before you went
full-time let's say six monthsbefore you went full-time with
this what was that like?
And then we can talk.
You know, maybe six months to ayear after you went full-time,
(11:54):
what was that like, and then wecan talk.
You know, maybe six months to ayear after you went full time,
what was that like?
Let's start with six monthsbefore.
What are you doing?
What are you going through yourmind?
What are you still working on?
What are your problems or painpoints, and can you share how
you overcame those with us?
Gina Taylor (12:04):
Yeah, sure.
So six months before was beforeI was a mom.
I knew that having a child wasgoing to change things.
I knew it was going to changemy work flow and work schedule.
Didn't know exactly what thatwould look like.
I knew I didn't want to go backfull time and it was the
question of how am I going tomake this work?
Is my employer going to beflexible enough to accommodate a
(12:27):
different schedule or not?
And if not, then what?
And so there's a lot ofuncertainty, I think, in that
period, and then add to it thefact that you're going through a
major life transition, thesetwo big things that are
happening at the same time andthey're wound so tightly
together, feeling veryunprepared for what was going to
(12:48):
come next whether it was workor having a kid and not knowing
what was going to be the best orpossible solution.
And as my child was born andthen, of course, I had some
maternity leave and thinkingabout all right now I know that
I'm going to need to changeplans and trying to make it as
(13:08):
smooth as possible, both for myprevious employer, but then also
, what's the low hanging fruitthat I can start with that's
going to start to build us upand I stuck with what I knew and
come to find out that wasn'tnecessarily the best, maybe,
solution.
I mean it worked in the end,but I think it maybe was a
(13:29):
little more challenging than itneeded to be.
Tanner Welsch (13:32):
So what is this that you're referring to?
That you knew that was a littlemore challenging than it needed
to be.
Gina Taylor (13:37):
So I stuck with the horses and I stuck with
incorporating hypotherapy as ourinitial offering through our
private practice and, unlikeother areas in the country,
there are actually quite a fewfacilities that have therapists
that are incorporatinghypotherapy into their practice.
So, whether that's OT, pt orspeech, there are a number of
established facilities that havetherapists that are
incorporating hypotherapy intotheir practice.
So, whether that's OT, pt orspeech, there are a number of
(13:57):
established facilities that havebeen doing it for 20, 30, 50
years.
And so coming in as anindividual person, private
practice owner, without afacility name behind you, when
there are other choices, I thinkmade it a little bit harder
than if we had started off onlike nature-based or aquatics,
(14:18):
both of which there was nothingat all in our area.
So, yeah, it was interesting.
Tanner Welsch (14:23):
Yeah, that's an interesting perspective and
pretty insightful.
And so after going through thatinitial experience in the early
phases, did you happen tochange your approach or
presentation to where really thehippotherapy was more of an
additional service or maybe aback-end service, and then you
went more with the aquatic OTsituation?
Gina Taylor (14:44):
Yeah.
So the really cool thing is nowwe find that the way we've
structured ourselves is that ourclients come to us for OT and
then we often see them inmultiple settings.
They're not necessarily justbeing seen at the barn or just
being seen in aquatics, and soif I'm having a particular
challenge in one area, then whenI see them in a different
(15:05):
context, either I don't see thatsame challenge here or I see it
present differently and I havedifferent tools to work on.
So I have a client right nowthat we're working on a lot of
motor coordination issues and soupper extremity extension and
lower extremity flexion, and shejust can't quite coordinate the
both.
When you see her in the pool,can you get her to do extension
(15:26):
with the barbell in the front ordo like crisscross applesauce
on the flow through mat.
It's worked really well in thatthey're much more flexible and
being able to see them indifferent settings gives us a
lot more insight into what'sgoing on than if we just saw
them with any one of our tools.
Tanner Welsch (15:43):
For sure, and some more opportunities for
intervention to try in thatsetting.
Yeah, I love that.
That's cool.
We talked a little bit aboutsix months before going full
time.
Let's fast forward there.
And how was that transition?
What was going through yourmind?
What were some of yourstruggles?
Gina Taylor (15:57):
It was hard.
It was harder than I expectedit to be.
I feel like when you're in theFacebook groups of private
practice entrepreneurship, somepeople are like I filled my
caseload in three months and nowI have a waiting list and we're
looking to hire.
And that was definitely not ourexperience.
Again, that initial offering ofsticking with hippotherapy
being the main area that we werespecializing in, it was much
(16:21):
harder to get going and therewere much more ups and downs.
You know, one client, threeclients, and then things would
change, that panicked feeling ofam I going to be able to fill
those spots again.
Then summer came and then weoffered the nature-based
interventions and we had somegroups run.
(16:42):
Within that timeframe we wereable to start to have a little
bit of diversity in what we wereoffering and we had that
opportunity to be like okay, wecan offer some nature-based
groups.
We had that opportunity to belike okay, we can offer some
nature-based groups.
And then some of those peoplesort of filtered either over to
the barn or into individualone-on-one sessions.
That allowed us to, or me inparticular, take a deep breath.
(17:06):
There's an up and a down and anup and a down, and you just
have to know which one you're onto look for the next and up and
a down and you just have toknow which one you're on to look
for.
Tanner Welsch (17:16):
the next and the services that you offer in this
timeline.
When did aquatics come in?
Because you talk aboutexperimenting a little bit with
a nature base, which workedgreat, and you already had the
aquine stuff.
So when did the aquatics filterinto all this and you guys see
that as like a legitimateadditional service that you can
offer.
Gina Taylor (17:30):
That was about two years in.
We had been looking for afacility for a couple of months
prior to that.
We knew we wanted to bring itin and just trying to find the
right facility that was going tobe the right fit with ours and
the environment itself.
Somebody was willing to workwith us on time and time a day
(17:52):
and then, about six weeks beforewe did, ran Facebook ads and we
filled that right from openingday.
It's changed from where itstarted, so we filled it with
one-on-one OT clients and nowwe're a mix of aquatic OT
sessions and adaptive swimlessons.
So some of our OT clients thatsee us in the other settings are
(18:13):
adding on adaptive swimminglessons as opposed to another OT
session a week.
In some cases paying for twotherapy sessions a week was
really hard for families, butgetting that adaptive swimming
lesson in was really helpful asan adjunct.
Tanner Welsch (18:31):
For sure.
Let's look at the year markafter you went full-time.
At this point it sounds likeyou've done the nature-based as
a service and you're still doingthe equine stuff.
Where are you guys at?
What are some of the painpoints you're having and how did
you overcome them a year afteryou went full-time?
Gina Taylor (18:48):
So the interesting thing about when you're in a
nature-based setting or you'reworking with animals is that
seasons matter, unlike a clinicwhere seasons don't matter.
Seasons really matter.
And so you need more than ayear to go through the cycle of
seasons so that way you canstart to plan when people are
available, how they're going toreact to the cold and make sure
(19:12):
that you have parent educationcoming on in August, because if
they're signing up, they'regoing to fall out by October oh,
it's getting really cold orparents start to have concerns
about it.
So as we got to that one yearmark okay, it's definitely
viable, it's good.
As far as scheduling, I canbook out most of my schedule now
(19:35):
.
Then it was just starting toback into what we had learned
through that first yearregarding seasonal changes,
because in some ways you thinkof aquatics as a summertime
thing, but it's actually.
Most people have their poolsopen.
In the summer they're much morelikely to use their own pool or
their friend's pool, whereas inthe dead of winter they're much
more likely to come to afacility, and so some things are
(19:56):
even counterintuitive as far aswhat that schedule would be.
And as we sort of came intothat second summer we realized
that families were booking theirtherapy intensives in November
of the previous year so wethought we were on it.
We're like we got our stuff outend of March, april and people
(20:17):
are like, no, we're all bookedup.
Probably one of our biggest painpoints of we knew what we could
offer, but now we were learningwhen did we need to offer it?
If you wanted your summerschedule out, you had to be
getting that out as early asNovember, but definitely by
January-ish, because people wereby April.
They had their summer planned.
I was like, wow, that's amazing.
Tanner Welsch (20:40):
So, since we're talking a little bit about the
seasonal stuff, what happened inthose winter months, you know,
november, december, january withthe equine therapy?
Is it temporarily just notavailable at that time, or how
did you adapt with the seasonchanges?
Gina Taylor (20:52):
So one facility has an indoor riding arena and so
then you have the cold but youdon't have the elements.
The other facility does not,and we just went with it.
If it is literally snowingheavily, we will cancel.
If it's not and the client cantolerate it, we won't.
Because I have some kids thatreally can tolerate it.
(21:13):
Right, they have more socialemotional issues, and so as long
as I gave really goodinstructions of what dress warm
meant, we were good.
And then I had some otherclients that they just couldn't
tolerate the cold, no matterwhat they were dressed in, and
so we learned a lot as far astelling families ski gear.
If you have ski gear like pants, thermals, snow pants, coats,
(21:35):
you had to spell everything out,because tights don't cut it.
And this year the facility thatdoesn't have an indoor I said,
from daylight savings time todaylight savings time, I'll just
be at the other facility.
So we just switched locations.
Tanner Welsch (21:50):
I love that flexibility and adaptability and
checking in with the clients.
That's great.
What is obvious to you now thatmaybe you struggled with in the
moment of you know, six monthsbefore going full-time with this
business, or you know aroundthe time that you were a new mom
and everything was up in theair and just felt ill-prepared
for everything, like youmentioned.
(22:11):
What is obvious to you now andthat hindsight and experience
perspective that you can sharewith us.
Gina Taylor (22:16):
Yeah, I am such a planner, I like to have things
planned, and there's only somuch planning you can do.
And I thought, once I get itset, I thought there was going
to be some magical done point.
And at this point I realizedthere is no magical done point
because it's just an iteration,a new iteration of what you had
done before.
So each time we change or addor grow, you have to go back and
(22:41):
redo everything.
You have to go back and do yourintake forms, you have to go
back and do your welcomesequences.
There is no done.
And so it's obvious now thatyou're going to ride those ups
and downs.
You're going to be startingover in some ways as you bring
new programs in, and I was soworried about having it done
that there was some sort of donepoint.
(23:01):
And it's obvious to me now thatthere is no done point.
There's just where you're atand where you're going For sure.
What do you love most aboutyour new reality?
It might fly, it might flop,but there's just something as a
(23:25):
professional that is so freeingabout that.
And I don't have to go througha board, I don't have to go
through paperwork process, Idon't have to go through six
months of paperwork and red tapeto just try something to find
out.
It might not work anyway.
Tanner Welsch (23:41):
Yeah, right, I mean there's different aspects
of the traditional model that wecan talk about this on.
One is specifically for thecompany that you work for and
their red tape and theirlimitations, and then also the
limitations on the insurance andreimbursement, what they're
willing to pay for and notwilling to pay for, and all that
stuff.
So, yeah, that is definitelyfrustrating and something that
(24:04):
is unfortunate.
That is in the traditionalmodel For rehab professionals
interested in starting to branchout, do a side hustle and start
their own private practice,bootstrap it and build it up.
What advice do you have forthem, or tips or what's
something that maybe you wouldhave liked to have heard back
(24:24):
then from somebody who's alreadybeen in your shoes, where
you're at now?
Gina Taylor (24:28):
I'm going to give two things here, because one is
on the niche side of things andthen the other is on just the
experience, overall side ofthings.
Make sure that you take thetime to go hang out with a
therapist who's doing it,volunteer, go and spend some
(24:53):
time in that niche that youthink you want to work in before
you get all the things, becauseit's often not what you think
it's going to be.
Being out with the horses andwalking around on a beautiful
spring day and the birds arechirping and the client's having
a great time and they're havingthis amazing break that that's
fabulous.
But on the day that it's 37 andraining and miserable and the
horses are all tense becauseit's a cold, windy day in the
(25:14):
spring and the client isfreaking out because they didn't
have a good day and they'retrying to bite you and they had
bite you with the helmet.
You want to see that before youjump in with both feet.
So that's what I would say Goout and put the time in to find
out what that experience is like, or start in a micro step of
going with a client and meetinga farm and going to pet a horse
(25:34):
or something, because, again,it's not often what you think
exactly it's going to be.
You're never going to wastetime by doing that first, and
you may save yourself a lot oftime and money.
And then, from the what I wishsomeone would have told me
before getting started, becausethe niche area was my strong
point and the business area wasmy weak point.
(25:57):
I wish someone had sat downwith me and looked at different
ways to structure things and hadhelped me set up the
bookkeeping and looking at whichnumbers I really wanted to
track earlier on.
I think that would have beenreally helpful of know your
numbers.
Get to know your numbers, starttracking things, categorizing
(26:17):
things.
That would have helped me a lotearly on.
Tanner Welsch (26:20):
Let's dive into that a little bit if you don't
mind.
So you're talking about settingup a business plan or different
streams of income or differentservices you're going to offer.
Can we talk a little bit moreabout that and what you mean?
Gina Taylor (26:33):
Yeah, because we don't own the barn or the pool.
We have facility fees, Then wehave our income that comes in
from the clients paying us fortheir therapy sessions, and then
we have your other businessexpenses, like email or your
website platform.
And just starting to track,what percentage of expenses do
(26:53):
we have?
What percentage do we need toset aside for taxes?
What percentage is profit thatwe can pay ourselves from and
still feel comfortable in makingthat payment?
Because in that early phase andeven sometimes now, it's okay.
How much should we payourselves this month?
We know what the average is now, but did it vary significantly?
(27:17):
Because most of our expensesare not exponential, so as we
get more clients we don'tnecessarily incur more expenses,
and so that means our profitmargin would get bigger.
Just knowing where that line isof expenses, taxes, profit pay
yourself would be great.
Tanner Welsch (27:35):
You know that would have been really helpful
advice early on breaking thatdown and then there obviously
becomes a limit on how manyactually you guys can patients
you can see before you'd have tohire somebody else, for example
if you're going to scale stuff.
So yeah, something we haven'tcovered yet.
The horses sounds likesomething that right away you're
(27:56):
interested in right in OTschool, maybe even before OT
school.
Can you give us a little bit ofbackground of what was the big
interest in doing that from thestart?
Gina Taylor (28:06):
Yeah, so I was a horse kid.
Pretty much as soon as I caughtwind of a horse, I was a horse
kid.
I participated in 4-H as amiddle school, high school kid,
and once a year the SpecialOlympics kids would come and we
would give them rides on our 4-Hponies.
And so I was like, oh, that'scool, and so my undergraduate
degree is in equine studies, myH ponies.
And so I was like, oh, that'scool, and so my undergraduate
(28:27):
degree is in equine studies.
My parents were very supportive.
They didn't say what A careerin horses?
Get a real job.
They were really supportive.
They're like I don't knowexactly what you're going to do
with it, but you'll figure itout.
So my initial side of cominginto all of this was from the
horse side of things and Istarted with teaching adaptive
horseback riding.
I was teaching riding because Iwas a rider to people with
special needs, but then I was Ireally don't have all the tools
in my toolbox that I would liketo have.
(28:49):
And then it was just a decisionof do I want to be OT, do I
want to be PT?
Do I want to be an SLP?
So when I sat down for mygraduate school interview and
they said your undergraduatedegree is in equine studies.
Why are you here?
And I was like I know exactlywhat I want to do.
Tanner Welsch (29:10):
And look at you now proving them all wrong.
A follow-up to that is theaquatic therapy.
When did that come into thepicture?
How and why did it come intothe picture as a service that
you offer?
Gina Taylor (29:20):
I had kept trying to convince my former boss to
put a pool in.
I was like it'd be great in thewinter, when it's too cold to
be outside, and when, in thesummer, when it's bloody hot,
we'll just have a pool.
And she's we're not getting apool.
Come on, we need a pool.
We're not getting a pool.
I really want a pool.
We're not getting a pool.
I lost that battle.
I never did get a pool, but itwas always something that really
made sense for me.
Again, there's a lot of overlapin the benefits from both.
(29:41):
And my husband he's a CODA, youknow, a retired Marine
lifeguard, so he had all thepieces there and I was.
So why aren't we doing it?
Well, we don't have a pool.
Okay, let's find a pool.
And that was really okay, let's, let's try it and see.
And I knew from being pregnantI wanted to take an aquatics
prenatal class.
There was nothing.
I drove an hour and 15 minutesto go to a prenatal aquatics
(30:03):
class.
I was.
This is amazing.
So I knew there was.
Just there was nothing in ourarea.
It made sense.
Tanner Welsch (30:09):
That's awesome.
I really love your life, yourcareer, your life.
You really have a what I wouldcall a more lifestyle of freedom
, like a customized life that'soutside of the traditional rehab
profession and career.
And I guess, closing here, I'mjust going to open up the mic to
you and just say is thereanything else that you'd like to
share with others that areinterested in either starting
(30:31):
their own private practice oreven just, you know, cultivating
a lifestyle that you and yourhusband and family have created?
Gina Taylor (30:39):
It's doable and it's easier than you think it is
to get started.
You don't have toovercomplicate it, you can just
get started and it will growfrom there.
You can grow it as big or assmall as you want.
We've grown to the point thatwe're comfortable growing right
now because we have three littlekids at home that we homeschool
and we don't want to work fivenights a week we could if we
(31:01):
wanted, but we don't and so it'spossible to start with just one
night a week and enjoy theexperience of doing something
different, and I think it bringsa lot of passion back to your
work, just to have a breath offresh air.
So if you're excited aboutanimals or aquatics or
hypotherapy, just gettingstarted can really refresh you
(31:24):
and then you can decide if youwant to go further with that.
A lot of the therapists that Italk with they just they really
overthink it and they get stuckin their head about making any
sort of move and it's really notthat hard to just take those
first steps.
So I think that's what I wouldsay to people you can just take
the first steps and see where itgoes.
If you're meant to do it, thepath will be there.
(31:45):
It's not for everybody.
I know some people.
They just can't handle beingeither in charge of it all or
the business side, or theunpredictability.
But if it's meant for you andyou take that first step, the
path will be there for you.
Tanner Welsch (31:58):
I love that.
Don't get stuck in the analysisparalysis.
Also, I think there's otheroptions.
Like you pointed out, you don'tnecessarily have to go full
time into your own privatepractice business.
It's something you can do onthe side it's like a
supplemental income or havebasically another avenue stream
and customize your schedule theway you want.
As you mentioned, you don'thave to work five days a week if
(32:21):
you don't want to.
So I really love thatflexibility and creativity with
the career and schedule andlifestyle.
Yeah, 100% Well, Gina, thankyou so much for coming on the
show and sharing your story.
I've loved it.
Gina Taylor (32:34):
Thanks for having me.
Tanner Welsch (32:35):
Of course, anytime.
Intro (32:37):
Thank you for listening to the Rehab Rebels podcast.
If this podcast was useful,make sure to hit that subscribe
button and leave a review.
For more information abouttransitioning to alternative
careers, head to rehabrebelsorgor follow us on Instagram at
Rehab Rebels podcast.
We'll see you next time.
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